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Apps: The Top Reason to Buy an iPhone

While, initially, many consumers snapped up iPhones for their touch screens, that?? changed. Nowadays, it?? the apps that are the biggest driver of iPhone purchases, according to a new report from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

That should come as no surprise: Apple and its official U.S. carrier distributor, AT&T, have been touting apps such as Bump, which allows iPhones to exchange contacts and photos by bumping two phones against each other, in their TV commercials. Today, Apple is the mobile apps leader, with more than 100,000 apps offered through its iTunes store. And this could be just the beginning.

Apps currently available in the Apple App Store have ??ust scratched the surface of what the iPhone can do,?Munster wrote in a Dec. 9 report. “With the addition of various accessories, or built-in features like RFID, the iPhone could become even more functional,” he wrote in a Dec.9 report.

Mobile payment applications could represent one big future opportunity. “….Apple, with the iPhone, iPod touch and iTunes accounts that each have an associated credit card, is uniquely positioned to make mobile payment a reality in the U.S.,” Munster writes. Related mobile apps may help people track their spending or transfer funds, for example.